_________________"... the baseless self-serving persecution foisted upon the Bored by Beast, Estonut, jarnon, Bob#s, and Weasel [in June]. Nonetheless, my life and this game go on as scheduled. Both my life and this game MUST go on, full speed, in direct defiance of the prejudice. Otherwise, the terrorists win."

From the Mass Bar Association: Under Mass law, Aaron Hernandez's murder conviction gets vacated since he died before his appeal was exhausted.

Odin Lloyd's family sued Hernandez for wrongful death. His other alleged victims' families may sue his estate. If his estate is larger because he's not a convicted felon, the families (and their lawyers) have a bigger pot to go after.

According to the local experts, Lloyd's family will essentially have to retry the case, instead of just referring to the guilty verdict. And the other families don't even have a guilty verdict to rebuild.

I wonder if his death makes his retirement accounts subjest to creditor's claims

By retirement accounts, if you mean his NFL pension, that's a non-event. Like most pensions, you die, it's over (unless it's some kind of joint-and-survivor setup, which I doubt he had).

If he had anything like personal IRAs, I would suspect they may or not be in play, depending upon how things were set up. If they would go to a person as a beneficiary, that's outside of the estate so I'd say no. If it's not and just goes into his general estate, it well might. But that's my (limited) logic on this, and law is often illogical.

Hernandez’s appeal of his conviction had yet to be heard by the court when the former New England Patriots tight end committed suicide in his jail cell last month. By Massachusetts law, a conviction must be abated if the defendant dies before his or her appeal is settled.

Hernandez was found not guilty in the double murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado just days before his death.

“If Hernandez’s convictions are vacated, those convictions can no longer be used in civil lawsuits filed by the families of Hernandez’s victims and his alleged victims. Family members of Lloyd, de Abreu and Furtado all have wrongful death claims pending against Hernandez’s estate. In a wrongful death lawsuit, the victim’s family must prove by a preponderance of evidence (more likely than not) that the defendant’s negligence caused the killing of the family member.

“The burden in a wrongful death lawsuit is far lower than in a criminal prosecution, where guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is required. If, as prosecutors demand, abatement is denied, Hernandez’s conviction in murdering Lloyd would make it nearly certain for Lloyd’s mother, Ursula Ward, to prevail. Also, even though Hernandez was not convicted of murdering de Abreu and Furtado, some of the evidence from that prosecution would be admissible in a civil trial if abatement does not occur.”

The abatement also could allow Hernandez’s family to recoup some or all of the $5.91 million in guaranteed money the Patriots withheld from Hernandez after his arrest.

Hernandez’s appeal of his conviction had yet to be heard by the court when the former New England Patriots tight end committed suicide in his jail cell last month. By Massachusetts law, a conviction must be abated if the defendant dies before his or her appeal is settled.

Hernandez was found not guilty in the double murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado just days before his death.

“If Hernandez’s convictions are vacated, those convictions can no longer be used in civil lawsuits filed by the families of Hernandez’s victims and his alleged victims. Family members of Lloyd, de Abreu and Furtado all have wrongful death claims pending against Hernandez’s estate. In a wrongful death lawsuit, the victim’s family must prove by a preponderance of evidence (more likely than not) that the defendant’s negligence caused the killing of the family member.

“The burden in a wrongful death lawsuit is far lower than in a criminal prosecution, where guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is required. If, as prosecutors demand, abatement is denied, Hernandez’s conviction in murdering Lloyd would make it nearly certain for Lloyd’s mother, Ursula Ward, to prevail. Also, even though Hernandez was not convicted of murdering de Abreu and Furtado, some of the evidence from that prosecution would be admissible in a civil trial if abatement does not occur.”

The abatement also could allow Hernandez’s family to recoup some or all of the $5.91 million in guaranteed money the Patriots withheld from Hernandez after his arrest.